8-Choice

8

Choice.

He just stood there.

It had been at least twenty minutes since Kahn had told Zachariah the full story, the truth behind the Rognaithe.  Zachariah was no chosen savoir, no holy warrior sent down from on high to protect the world.

He was food.  Bad food.

Kahn had seen Zachariah at his worst, but now the man seemed… broken.

Just standing there, Kahn became uneasy.  “Mr. Van Sluyters?  Are you alright?”

Zachariah looked up from his lost stare and suddenly spoke to Kahn?  “Alright?  Well, I’m gonna be going now.”

Kahn shook her head.  “I can’t let you-”

Zachariah cut her off.  “Can’t what?  Let me do that?  Let’s face facts.  You and I both know you can’t do anything to me.”

“Excuse me?” Kahn said frowning.

“Your benefactor is paying you to keep me alive, so how are you going to stop me?  You could keep having Nin-Jerk over there kick me in the head.”  Zachariah pointed at Kyo.  “But I’m pretty sure that’s going to start doing permanent damage.”

Kahn took a deep breath, controlling her rage.  “I don’t think you understand.”

Zachariah put his hand up to stop her.  “No, you don’t understand.  Most people don’t get to have reasons to be miserable bastards, but it turns out it’s my fucking destiny.  So, you know what?  I have a choice to make and I get to make it my way.  Not because of your benefactor or because of the psycho with all the tattoos, but because of me.”

Kahn worked her jaw in anger.  “I could restrain you.”

Zachariah’s eyes narrowed.  “I will bite my fucking tongue off and bleed to death in my own mouth.”

There was a long silence then Zachariah spoke.  “That’s what I thought.  Now, if you don’t mind, fuck off.”

Zachariah then turned and put his hands into his pockets and walked into the distance.

Kyo came up next to Kahn.  “I could kick him again.”

Kahn exhaled then looked at Kyo.  “You really like kicking him, don’t you?

Kyo shrugged.  “He makes it easy to enjoy kicking him.”

Kahn shook her head and spoke to her entire clan who stood behind her in silence.  “All of you, move out and head to the Tunnel of Zersch.  I will track Zachariah alone.  If Zachariah and the druid find their way there first, kill the druid and restrain Zachariah.”

The clan all nodded then vanished in clouds of smoke.

Kahn re-wrapped her face and moved after Zachariah.

****

“Hold up!”  Mel yelled, breathing hard.

Cathleen skidded to a stop and spun around.  “You need to keep up.”

Mel frowned.  “Yeah, can’t image why I can’t keep up with you.  It’s not like I have really short legs or anything.  Fucking bitch”

Cathleen scowled.  “Look Nex, I didn’t ask you to come along.  In fact, if you hadn’t insisted on coming, I could use my robin tattoo and move at twice the speed, so man up.”

“It’s Mel.”  Mel said angrily.

Cathleen looked confused.  “What?”

“My name is Mel.  You keep calling me Nex, which albeit, is my job.  It’s not my name.”  Mel spoke as he leaned on a tree.  “So I can only guess you are calling me by what I do because you don’t know my name, so I’m telling you, it’s Mel.  How about we work on calling me by my name from now on, eh?”

Cathleen was getting increasingly agitated with Mel.  “I have had enough of you.  Keep up or fall behind.”

Cathleen turned to begin running again when Mel said, “Doesn’t it bother you?”

She stopped in her tracks and exhaled with frustration.  “What?”

Mel pushed off the tree, breath slowly returning to him.  “Doesn’t it bother you?  That you are going to murder someone today?”

Cathleen’s demeanor seemed to change.  Her shoulders seemed to drop slightly.  “It must be done.”

Mel shook his head.  “Really?  You think the answer is killing someone, rather than facing the problem head on?  Seems like the something a bitch would do.”

Cathleen spun, her face turning into rage.  “Look, it’s just the way it has to be!”

Mel shook his head.  “Bullshit.”

Cathleen’s nostrils flared.  “It’s the way it has always been!”

Mel shook his head even more violently.  “Don’t feed me that.  You know better!  You all know better!”

Cathleen shook her head.  “I have no idea why I am taking this from some shiftless nex.  I bet you’re not even a Guild member are you?  Just a wanderer with nothing to believe in.”

Mel shrugged.  “When you believe in something, it just means it’s easier to lie to you.”

 “I thought I was loud.”  The sudden voice stopped their seemingly endless argument.

They both turned and standing there in the clearing of trees was Zachariah.  He had his hands in his pockets.

“Well, holy shit!”  Mel said with a smile.

Zachariah considered this.  “Seems about right, actually.”

Cathleen had a look of shock on her face.  “How did you escape the Kaze clan?”

Zachariah just shrugged, “They’re not as scary as you think.”

Cathleen raised her eyebrow.  “That’s it?  They’re not as scary as you think?”

Mel was laughing out loud now, absolutely thrilled with the situation.  Cathleen gave him a look and Mel turned toward her and laughed even harder, rubbing it in.  “You got a lot of surprises there, long legs.”

Zachariah raised an eyebrow.  “I’m stuck with that nick name, aren’t I?”

“Does seem like a keeper.”  Mel answered, grinning.

“Alright, well let’s get on with the quest, eh?”  Zachariah said, suddenly.

The mood changed and Mel frowned.  “Look Zach, you got to know-”

Zachariah raised his hand.  “I have to kill a wyvern, right?”  As he said it, he looked at Cathleen.

She could feel his eyes peering through her and she looked away.  “Of Course, it is your destiny.”

Zachariah made a quick single laugh.  “Ah yes.  My destiny.”

Zachariah walked over to his two companions.  “I should tell you something, Cathleen.  I don’t believe in destiny.”

“So you are-” Cathleen began.

Zachariah cut her off.  “Oh yeah.  I want to see a wyvern.  I just want you to know, destiny is what you make of it.”

Cathleen looked away again and nodded.  “Well then, come.  We have a need for speed if we are going to make it.”

Cathleen said this as she began to walk, realizing after a couple of steps that neither of them was following her, she stopped and turned.  Both Zachariah and Mel were just staring at her.

“What?” She asked.

“Top Gun.”  Zachariah said.

“I know, right!”  Mel yelled, looking at him.  “What is that about?!”

“What are you talking about?” Cathleen asked.

“Bullshit!  Like you don’t know you just quoted Top Gun?!”  Mel said, frustrated.

“What’s Top Gun?” Cathleen asked.

“That’s like the fourth movie quote you have dropped.  You have got to be doing this on purpose!” Zachariah scolded.

Cathleen shook her head.  “I have never watched movies.  I have been too busy training to save the world.”

Cathleen was cut off by an abrupt kick to the stomach, sending her rolling backward through the grass.

Kahn had snuck up on them during their argument.  She turned toward Zach.  “I have a job.  If you have no guide, you can’t throw your life away.”

“Kahn, what the hell are you doing?!” Zachariah yelled back at her.

Mel looked up at him.  “You know her name?  What the hell, dude.  Did you make friends with the ninja?!”

“I have to protect you, not follow your orders.”  Kahn responded calmly as Cathleen regained her footing in front of her.  “And I have been wanting to finish this from minute one.”

Kahn drew her small ninja sword, holding it backhanded.  She crouched into a fighting stance.

Cathleen drew her saber and bent her knees to prepare for the fight.

“Damn it, don’t do this.”  Zachariah yelled and began to walk toward the women, when Mel grabbed his wrist to stop him.

“Something tells me we should let this happen.”  Mel said as the two beautiful woman stood ready to do battle.

He was hoping for a nip-slip.

Next week:  Zachariah has a life or death decision to make involving the fate of the world… and no one cares!  The druid and the ninja are going to get it on!  Who will win? Who will gain control of Zachariah’s fate?  Will there be a nip-slip?

Next time, hot chicks collide on…

Stranger Things.

TO BE CONTINUED….

                                                     

7-Wake Up

7

Wake Up.

Her eyes exploded open and she sat up like a bolt of lightning on a rainy night.  She did so at such speed, Mel actually jumped backward from his small fire in surprise.

“What happened?” She asked quickly, seeing the dwarf.

“Give it a second,” Mel said.  “It will come back to you.  You just passed out from over-use.”

The druid took a second as her brain began to move again.  The memories flowed back into her head.  She looked around and saw the dead rock troll on the shore line, a distance away.  Then she started to become panicked.

“Where is he?” She asked.

“The guy in the stupid shirt?” Mel asked.  “He went to grab some more wood for the fire.”

The druid stood.  “He can’t be alone.  I’m his protection.”

Mel smirked.  “You sure about that?  I mean, you did such a great job with the troll.”

The druid turned and fire burned in her eyes.  “Are you getting at something?”

Mel nodded, undaunted.  “You’re a terrible body guard.”

The druid frowned and gritted her teeth.  “I don’t need this.  I need to find the Rognaithe.”

Mel smiled.  “Ha!  So I was right.  He is the Rognaithe!”

The druid began to walk down the beach, hoping to leave Mel behind.

She was not so lucky.

“I don’t get it,” Mel began to ask.  “Why, out of all the people on the planet, did you pick that idiot?”

“That is not my decision.”  The druid replied.

Mel nodded.  “Yeah, yeah.  I know all that, but why him?  I mean, do you guys really think he is going to defeat Zersch?”

The druid stopped in place.  “Look Nex.  You’re making me angry, and you wouldn’t like me when I’m angry.”

Mel raised an eyebrow.  “The Incredible Hulk?”

The druid looked confused.  “What?”

Mel cocked his head to the side.  “You just quoted The Incredible Hulk.”

“Umber Hulk’s can’t talk.”  The druid said, looking very lost.

Mel shook his head.  “No, No.  Not an Umber Hulk.  I mean, The Incredible Hulk.  Big green guy.  Bruce Banner gets angry and becomes a deaf body builder.”

The Celtic woman just stared at Mel.

Mel became frustrated.  “Oh, come on!”

****

Zachariah’s eyes slowly began to open.

His hand instinctively moved to his head, which was throbbing.  “Anyone get the name of that truck?”

“There was no truck.”  The ninja woman’s voice suddenly reminded Zachariah of what had happened.  “But if you mean this as the standard American metaphor, I believe you are referring to Kyo’s foot.”

Zachariah picked his head off the ground and looked over his chest.  The female ninja who had been chasing him and Kathleen, sat samurai style, in front of him on the earth floor of a cave.  She had taken off her mask.  She was thin and pretty with a cute face of obvious Japanese decent.  She had long black hair in a pony tail down her back.

The cave they were in was large and earth covered, unlike the shale alcove they had fallen into with the troll.  As Zachariah pulled himself upright, he looked around.  The place was amazing.  A giant open cave with trees and clearing everywhere.  The weird blue light from the crystals in the walls illuminated the place like before.

Even more amazing was that along the ceiling, trees grew as well.  It was as if the ceiling of the cave was also a floor.  It gave Zachariah a feeling of vertigo, which made him look away.

“So he kicked me in the face?” Zachariah asked.

“Side of the head.”  She answered in perfect English.  “In the interest of fairness, you were asking for it.”

Zachariah shrugged.  “It’s okay.  I remember that you people think kicking someone means you’re saving them.”

She sighed.  “We are trying to save you.”

Zachariah frowned.  “You’re doing a bang up job, so far.”

Her eyes narrowed.  “You are a very hard person to save, Mr. Van Sluyters.”

He shook his head.  “Screw you, lady.  I didn’t ask to be saved.  Hell, I didn’t ask for any of this.”

“We have been following you for some time,” she said.  “We were attempting not to let you know we were there, but the presence of the druid made that impossible.  We were forced to step in.”

Zachariah stood up.  “Sure, so you have been following me?”

She nodded.  “We have had people on you for three years.”

Zachariah was shocked.  “Three years?!”

She nodded and stood.  “Yes, and might I say, it was never going to work out with Lilly.”

“Fuck you, ninja Oprah!” Zachariah responded with anger.

She put up her hand.  “I apologize.  I over-stepped.”

“I don’t get it.  Aren’t ninja’s assassins?” Zachariah asked, changing the subject.

She nodded.  “We do kill, but we can protect.  We were hired by an anonymous benefactor.”

Zachariah laughed.  “Hired?  Lady, there are, maybe, two people on this planet who don’t want me dead and they defiantly don’t have enough to hire ninjas.”

She shrugged.  “Think what you wish.  We are here to protect you.”

“What about the wyvern?  Zersch?” He asked.  “Are you going to help me fight it?”

The woman raised her eyebrow.  “Fight it?  Is that what you believe you are here for?”

Zachariah became confused.  “Yeah, that’s what the Rognaithe does, right?”

The ninja shook her head.  “Mr. Van Sluyters, you are not here to fight the wyvern.  You are here to be fed to it.”

****

She stared at the shale on the ground.  “They have him.  The damned ninjas have him.”

“Ninja.” Mel said.

Cathleen spun. “What?”

“Ninja is its own pluralization.  Like moose.” He replied.

Cathleen sighed in anger.  She had traded up one annoying prick for another.  “I believe you’re missing the point.”

Mel shook his head.  “I don’t think so, what do you want Zach for?  It’s not fighting.”

She frowned.  “I thought I told you to stop asking about that.”

“What can I say, I’m a rebel.  So, what’s the deal?  How’s an idiot in a Hawaiian shirt with no knowledge of magic or the magical world, going to take down Zersch.”

“He’s not!”  Cathleen yelled back out of irritation and then quickly realized that she had said too much.  “Just stop asking!”

Mel’s eyes narrowed as he began to figure it out.  “Holy shit, he’s a sacrifice.”

Cathleen’s shoulders shrugged and Mel knew he had it.  “He’s not going to fight the monster.  Hell, you need a chosen one to fight a monster once, not every hundred years when it wakes up.  You have some deal with the beast, don’t you?”

Cathleen didn’t turn.  “It was too strong.  It is too strong.  It feeds on the sorrow and fear of humans.  Long ago, we made a deal that, on the day the creature awakes, we would feed it one human that encompassed the sadness and fear of the world.”

Mel shook his head.  “So you guys find the most depressed pathetic asshole on the planet and feed him to Zersch to keep him happy and sleeping?”

Cathleen nodded.

“That is just, plain, fucked up.” Mel said.

“I have a mission.”  Cathleen said, her voice turning back into the steel it had been before.  “I have to get the Rognaithe to Zersch to keep the world from catastrophe.  You have stumbled into this and can leave now or you can come with me, but I will not be judged by you, Nex.”

She turned and began to move in a direction, having found the ninja’s trail.

Mel shook his head and stood there for a second.  Although he had only just met Zachariah, the guy didn’t seem that bad.  He didn’t deserve what was coming, but at the same time, wasn’t it worth it if it kept the wyvern at bay?

Mel knew he was going to see this whole thing through, but he had no idea why.

Some vacation.

Next week:  The Rognaithe is a lie!  Zachariah will have to choose between his own life and the lives of thousands.  That is, if the ninja will let him.  What will Zachariah and Mel do with this information?

Find out next week.  Same stranger place, same stranger time! (couldn’t resist.)

Stranger things

TO BE CONTINUED….

6-Down She Goes

6

Down she goes.

Cathleen vanished.

Zachariah yelled at Mel.  “Now!  Do it now!”

Mel hurled his arm forward, forcefully and a burst of strong wind hit the shale around the troll’s feet.  The shale bounced and skipped off itself and the click clack noise it made echoed throughout the cave.  The troll suddenly became confused.

Cathleen appeared in a blur above the troll.  This time the troll wasn’t ready for her.  She stabbed downward as she dropped onto the trolls back, the blade entering the beast’s eye and exiting through the back of its massive head.

It whirled and Cathleen flew through the air crashing to the shale.  The mighty beast seemed to stumble and stagger, roaring and screaming out of instinct.  The adrenaline wore off, finally, and the rock troll crashed to the ground.

It gave a final whimper and then it was dead.

There was a short silence of contemplation at the battle fought, and the fact that they had all survived.

It was broken by Zachariah screaming at the top of his lungs.  “What’s up now, troll? HUH?  Fucked your day all to hell, didn’t we?”

Mel and Cathleen both looked at Zach, frowning.  His smile faded.  “What?  We did fuck him up good.”

Mel raised an eyebrow.  “I don’t understand how she hit him.  She was losing and then I moved the shale and she hit.  I don’t get it?”

 Zachariah smiled.  “It’s like you said, the troll uses its hearing to do just about everything.  Well, the only reason Cathleen hadn’t made minced meat of it was because her robin tattoo makes a bunch of chirping noises when she uses it.  She could teleport all day but the troll would have followed her.”

Mel laughed out loud.  “The shale masked the chirp so the troll couldn’t follow her.”

Zachariah clapped in joy.  “And they said I was never going to amount to anything.”

Mel looked confused.  “I don’t understand how this changes that.  Surviving a troll encounter doesn’t exactly help you amount to anything.”

Zachariah’s face dropped.  “Thanks.  Glad I helped you survive.”

Mel shook his head.  “Oh, so you cast the spell that got us out of the pit?”

Zachariah frowned.  “No, but-”

Mel continued.  “In that case, you cast the spell to move the shale?”

Zachariah jabbed his figure down at Mel.  “It was my idea!”

Mel jabbed his finger back at Zachariah.  “I bent reality to make your silly idea happen, long legs!”

“Stop calling me ‘long legs’, you little shit!”  Zachariah replied angrily.  “It’s fucking racist!”

Mel scoffed.  “No, it’s not.  Its prejudice, you infernal twit!  Racism would be if I said something about the color of your skin.”

Zachariah’s eyes narrowed.  “I want to punt you like a football.”

“I want to punch your balls like a timing bag.”  Mel responded, his own eyes narrowing.

Zachariah’s face scrunched up in anger.

In that silence, Cathleen’s weak voice cut the air.  “You shouldn’t have been able to do that.”

They both turned to see the pale Celtic Druid woman standing with wide, lost eyes.  “That was my job…”

Cathleen suddenly fell forward.  Zachariah and Mel watched as she crashed, face first, into the shale.

“Nice catch.”  Mel said to Zachariah, sarcastically.

Zachariah frowned.  “I didn’t see you trying to break her fall.”

Mel frowned at him.  “Don’t be a dick.  I break her fall, I need an E.R.”

Zachariah couldn’t help but smile as they both knelt down and rolled her over.

Mel examined her.  “She’s just got spell exhaustion.  She just needs rest.”

Zachariah nodded back to him.  “Alright, let’s make her comfortable.  I’m gonna see what’s in this cave.  Maybe some firewood so we can warm up.”

Mel nodded.  Both men were soaked and starting to feel the chill in the air as their adrenaline dropped.

Zachariah didn’t know what was waiting for him…

****

Walking around the alcove, a lot of thoughts circled Zachariah’s head.

In the last two hours, he had been kicked by ninjas, kidnapped by a druid, met a dwarf, spell caster and helped kill a rock troll.

Now it was becoming apparent he was supposed to somehow fight a wyvern of some sort.

It had been a lot to process.

One word kept repeating in his head.  “Run.”

He could just go, get the hell away from all of this.  After all, what was a loser like him going to do against a wyvern.  He still hadn’t figured out why they had even chosen a jack ass like him in the first place.

It didn’t really matter though, Zachariah couldn’t run.

He couldn’t run for a slew of reasons, the obvious being that he was in a cave, apparently inhabited by a series of magical creatures that wanted nothing more than to kill, maim, and/or eat him.  Of course, then there was the fact that even if he got through all of that, he was at an undisclosed location in the Canadian wilderness, hundreds of miles from his home.

As compelling as these reasons were, they weren’t what kept Zachariah from running.

He had to find out.

His life had been bullshit and crap up to this point.  His only escape had been the role playing games he passed his time with and the stories he failed to write.  But in the end, life had turned out to be a mundane list of failures, one after the other.

Rockford had been right, and Zachariah hated him for it.

But now, something amazing had dropped into his life and he had the chance to be involved in something truly amazing.

Was life beautiful after all?

Probably not, but maybe it was more fun than he had thought it would be.

It was at this point Zachariah realized he was surrounded by ninjas, having completely lost track of his surroundings during his internal rant.

Zachariah’s shoulders sagged.  “Shit.”

The one female ninja stepped out in front of him.  “You are surrounded.  It is time you surrender.”

Zach seemed to consider this.  “You know what?”

Zach grabbed hold of one of the wet roots he had collected to attempt making a fire, and raised it above his head like a weapon.  “I just killed a fucking rock troll, so I’m feeling pretty damn lucky.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.”  The ninja woman said.

“No, no.  I got this.”  Zachariah said, whipping the root back in forth through the air as he spoke.  “Now who wants a piece of my root, eh?  How ‘bout you, Kung Pow?”

Zachariah pointed at one of the ninja.  “You feeling froggy?”

The ninja he pointed at became confused and pointed at himself as if to ask, who me?

“Yeah, you, crab rangoon.”  Zachariah said, stepping up to the randomly selected ninja.  “You look like you want to try to take the title, huh?”

“The title?”  The ninja asked, confused.

“You want a shot at the champ?”  Zachariah asked, sticking his chin into the air as if he were a gangster.

“What are you the champion of?”  The ninja asked.

“Kicking ninja ass.”  Zachariah answered.

“Are you asking me if I would like to become the champion of kicking my own ass?” The ninja asked.

Zachariah seemed to consider this.

The female ninja sighed and shook her head.

“Alright,” Zachariah said.  “The metaphor isn’t air tight, but I think you get what I’m trying to say.”

“I’m sorry.”  The ninja said politely, “I really don’t.”

Zachariah raised his eyebrow.  “Well, let me clear it up.  I am going to kick your ass.”

Zach poked the ninja with the dilapidated root.

In under a second, the ninja snatched the root from Zach and slapped him in the face.

The rest of the ninjas snickered.

“Enough.”  The female ninja said, angrily.  “We didn’t come here to do this.  I came to speak with you, Rognaithe.”

“Fuck that and fuck you!”  Zachariah yelled, rubbing his cheek.  “He pointed at the ninja who had slapped him.  “I want to see him try that shit again!”

The ninja slapped Zachariah.

“Mother fucker!”  Zachariah yelled, grabbing his cheek again.  “How the fuck are you doing that?  Seriously?”

The ninja shrugged and Zachariah turned to Kahn.  “I literally did not see him move.”

Zachariah nodded.  “That is good, I have to admit.  Hen, I’m beat, I’m beat!”

Zachariah extended his hand.  “Okay, shake hands and let’s call it settled.”

The ninja nodded and extended his hand.

Zachariah slapped him.

“Yeah, that’s what you get!  Welcome to Zachariah’s house, bitch!”  Zachariah’s celebration was cut short.

He was unsure as to whether or not the ninja had kicked or punched him, but either way he was hit and everything went black.

Next week:  Zachariah is in the ninja’s hands, now!  What does Kahn have in store for our hero?  Will Cathleen wake up in time to rescue him and, will he want to be rescued if she does?  Did Zach deserve all those slaps (spoiler-he totally did)?

It all continues next week!

Stranger things

TO BE CONTINUED….

5-She's Back...woohoo

5

She’s Back….Woohoo.

“FUCK ME!” Zach screamed and grabbed his hand in pain.

The troll reared back slightly, but not out of pain.  Zach was positive he had not hurt the great beast.  Instead, he had just broken his own hand.  The troll had reared back out of surprise.

It was shocked by the blow to its face.  It shook its head as if that had never happened before.  Zach had a funny feeling that the rock troll’s prey had never attempted to deck it in the face.

“Did you just punch a rock troll in the face?”  Mel asked with a look of shock on his face.

Zachariah was still holding his throbbing hand.  “You said to stall it!”

“I didn’t mean for you to punch it in the face!”  Mel yelled back, still shocked.

“Well I was going to sing it a show tune, but I wasn’t sure he’d like that.  WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU WANT ME TO DO?!” Zach sarcastically screamed back.

Zach looked up at the troll, who looked back down with its pupil-less white eyes as if to ask sarcastically, ‘really?’  Zachariah shrugged in response to the perceived sarcasm as if to say, ‘Sure why not?’

The troll had enough and roared again, pulling its hand back and striking downwards with one punch.  “MOVE!”

Mel’s scream forced Zach to leap to the side at the last minute as the troll’s giant, grey, muscle-laden arm slammed into the ground with thousands of pounds of pressure.  The unstoppable force hit the ground and it shattered.  Zachariah’s eyes went wide as the ground gave away under him, Mel and the rock troll.

Zachariah’s brain had time to spew out one thought…

Falling again?  Are you kidding me?

****

Kahn stared into the blackness that stretched out in front of her and she smiled.  It is the trap of a rock troll and it appeared that the Rognaithe had fallen in.

“Master.  It appears the Druid followed the Rognaithe down.”  The Ninja known as Hikashi spoke behind Kahn.

“Indeed,” Kahn spoke back to her soldier.  “It does appear that way.”

“Should we follow?” Hikashi asked.

“Why should we?”  Ikaru spoke up to Kahn’s left.  “If the Rognaithe is eaten by the troll, it only makes our job easier.  The druid doesn’t matter.”

“True,” Kahn said settling the argument before it got started.  “If the Rognaithe dies in the troll’s lair, our job is done.  But we must make sure, one way or the other.  Follow.  I know another way.  We will head them off, should they be successful.”

Her shoulders gave a ‘Yes, Sir’, and they vanished into the shadows.

****

In the movies, people fall into water all the time.  In fact, it seemed to Zachariah that every time a movie or T.V. show writer needed a way out, the hero would make some giant leap into water and as long he fell into the water, he was fine.  When a villain falls backward into water, no matter how high from which he falls, they always come back to get revenge.

Zachariah realized as he hit the underground lake, forty feet below, that this fact about water was, in fact, a total lie.

Zachariah hit the surface of the water and it felt like he was crashing through a plate glass window.  The force sent a numbing shock wave through his body.  The water flooded into his mouth and nose, since they had been previously open in a hopeless scream.  The water tasted like minerals and rust.

His breath left him and Zachariah began to paw and kick to reach the surface.  His broken hand throbbed and his body ached from the force of the landing, but the pain in his chest drove him on.  His thoughts fled from his head until all he could think about was his desperate need to breath.

Suddenly, he broken the surface and gasped, flooding his lungs with sweet, life-giving oxygen.  He paddled there keeping himself afloat while he looked around.  He was in an open alcove, floating in a small underground lake created from dripping water around the edges of the cave.  The whole place was lit by a weird bluish glow that seemed to come from the walls.

Zachariah was, for a brief moment, lost in the awe of how beautiful the place was.

The bewilderment of the place was replaced by the realization that the water he floated in was ice cold, and so Zachariah began to slowly kick and paddle for the shore.  As he did, he began to look around for Mel and couldn’t see anything.  This bothered Zachariah to his core.  He had only known Mel for a small time but he felt a kinship after what they had gone through together.

Mel had saved his life.

So he thought.

As Zachariah closed in on the shore, the water around him began to be disturbed.  He was trying to figure out what was going on by peering into the water around him.  He couldn’t make anything out in the foggy water at first, but slowly a shadow came to view.

By the time Zach figured out what it was, it was too late.

****

Cathleen moved down the walls as fast as she safely could.  She could hear the insanity below her, two voices screaming at each other, and the rock troll’s roaring.  She was sure she was on the right track because through it all, she could clearly hear the Rognaithe’s voice.

This Zachariah was very, very loud.  So much so, that she wondered how he had any friends.

She decided he couldn’t possibly have any.  Who would put up with him?

She didn’t recognize the other voice.  Then she heard a loud rumbling noise, like rocks falling.  Cathleen became nervous as she tried to move faster.

She heard the Rognaithe’s scream, then silence.  This was not good.

Would she be the first in nearly seven hundred years to fail?  Had the Rognaithe met his demise at the hands of a stupid rock troll?  Would Zersch awaken after all.

She could now see a blue luminescent light at the bottom of the hole.  As she got closer, she realized they had fallen through into an underground alcove.  She peeked out while hanging from the edge of the hole.

Cathleen let out a sigh of relief as she could see the Rognaithe swimming for the shore. He was still alive.  Cathleen had not failed, yet.

Her relief turned to despair as she saw the rock troll under the water, a huge shadow moving to swallow Zachariah and end this journey before it began.

Cathleen steeled herself and let go.  This was what she was here for.

Her tattoos began to dance.

****

The water exploded around Zachariah and he was flung through the air all the way to the shoreline.  He crashed into the shale covered shore, rolling through the thin rocks.

He came to a stop and coughed the dust, water and pain from his lungs.  He heard the roar but already knew what it belonged to.  “You have got to be kidding me.”

The rock troll stepped out of the water and growled toward him.  Its muscle covered body was covered in grey, thick, now wet fur.  It had long backward sloped ears like a bat, and no legs or feet, just four arms and four hands, using two of them to walk and the other two to flex and ball in front of it.

Its whole body moved and seemed to slide like that of a predator ready to pounce on cornered prey.

A flash of light, Cathleen appeared in front of the rock troll and Zachariah suddenly heard a faint robin’s call.  The troll seemed to be shocked and Cathleen moved in, stabbing her sword into the top of one of the troll’s standing hands.  It roared in pain and staggered.

Cathleen turned and screamed.  “RUN!  HIDE!”

Then she vanished again, appearing on the back of the troll.  Sword in hand, she raised it and tried to drive it downward into the troll’s head.  The troll moved just in time and she only managed to catch its shoulder.

The troll reared back and threw itself forward and Cathleen went flying through the air. She tucked and hit the ground with grace and agility rolling to her feet to face the beast again.

Zachariah hadn’t yet begun to run or to hide as he was told.  This was partly because of shock and partly because he really had no idea where to run or hide.  Instead, he just kind of looked around, standing there confused.

Cathleen screamed to run and hide again as the rock troll charged her, but it was really a moot point now.  His eyes set finally on Mel.  He was crawling out of the water, nearly twenty yards behind him.

Zachariah sprinted over to him and fell to the ground next to him.  “Mel, you made it!”

“Yeah, I guess I did.”  Mel said, between ragged breaths as he fell to his back in exhaustion.

Zachariah raised his eyebrow.  “Wow, you are really out of breath.”

Mel’s eyes opened then narrowed on Zachariah.  “Do I look like I would be a naturally strong swimmer?”

Zachariah raised his hands in surrender.  “I didn’t mean anything by it!”

“Sure,” Mel said sarcastically.  “What happened to the troll?”

Zachariah suddenly remembered about Cathleen and the troll.  “Oh shit!”

He stood and turned.  Mel did the same and they both saw the fight between the druid and the troll.

Cathleen vanished again and again, appearing and taking a chunk of flesh out of the troll’s hide.  The troll would counter and just miss with a powerful blow.

Zachariah grinned.  “She’s picking it apart.”

Mel’s face was stern.  “She’s going to lose.”

Zachariah looked at him.  “What?  How do you figure?”

Mel shook his head.  “The druid rune magic takes an incredible toll on the body.  She can’t keep that pace up.  The fact that she cast that many spells without passing out is amazing, but in the end she’s not doing enough damage and its going to catch her.”

Sure enough, the Tattoos dancing around Cathleen’s body were fading.  She was in trouble…

“How can we help?” Zachariah asked as the troll slammed the ground, barely missing the Celtic woman.

Mel nodded.  “We make sure her sacrifice is not in vain.”

Zachariah looked confused.  “What?”

“We get the fuck out of here.” Mel said, as he turned to walk away.

Zachariah turned and caught him just in time.  “What?  Where the fuck are you going?”

Mel frowned and turned.  “What you want me to do?  Bite its ankles?”

“We have to do something!”  Zachariah yelled at him.

“I am doing something.  I’m using the opening to get out of here.  That troll had dinner.  I’m not going to be his desert.”

Mel pulled away and began to walk away.  Zachariah sighed in desperation and turned back to the fight.  The troll was catching up.  It spun and hit the ground a half second before Cathleen could teleport again.  The blow rocked her.  She made a loud yelp of pain and flew through the air, hitting the shale and sliding to the wall.

She slowly began to pick herself up.  She was taking big gasps and sweat was pouring from her brow.

I can’t let her die.

Zach suddenly began to remember…

I can’t let her fall.

Why was that important?

I can’t let her… fall.

 Zach spun one more time and chased down Mel.  He grabbed him and spun him.

“Hey!  Fuck off, already!”  Mel yelled.

“Mel, you told me in the beginning when I fell down the hole that the troll knew I had fallen down the hole.  That it could hear the vibrations.  What did you mean?” Zachariah yelled at him.

Mel frowned confused.  “That’s how it hunts.  Hell, that’s how it see’s.  Those ears sense vibrations.”

Zachariah stared and him, his face contorted in thought.  “So its eyes…?”

Mel Shrugged.  “Just for show.”

Zachariah turned and looked at the troll.  Cathleen wasn’t moving.  Mel wasn’t moving and Zachariah wasn’t moving, but neither was the troll.  It was waiting.  Waiting to hear its prey.

Cathleen brought herself to her feet and prepared to attack.  Zach turned toward Mel. “Listen, can you make all those rocks around its feet move?  Just for a second?”

Mel shrugged, “Sure I could but I-”

Zachariah saw Cathleen’s tattoo began to glow and heard the robin’s call and he cut off Mel mid sentence.  “Do it! DO IT NOW!”

Next week:  Cathleen makes one final attempt to slay the mighty beast, but can she make it count?  Has Zachariah figured out a way to help the Celtic druid warrior, and even if they survive, how will they deal with the ninja ambush?

All that and more!  Next week!

Stranger things

TO BE CONTINUED….